Search for 'analysis' returned 13 results.

E3 is nearly here, and there is more to anticipate than the new Halo trailer. This may be a year of true innovation. New consoles, re-imagined controllers, anything is possible. The Xbox 360 is prime for innovation as it grows. It is connected to your friends, your PC, your home, and at E3 this year we will certainly get a glimpse of things to come.

Danc from Lost Garden ruffled a lot of feathers with his article about Nintendo\'s Revolution controller a couple months ago (as did all the greatest gaming websites). Now he\'s come out again with another sharp bit of criticism and advice for the industry: Broaden your horizons, or remain a niche form of entertainment. It\'s easy to forget about how few gamers there really are when we put ourselves into communities where everyone shares our interests. Why is there such a crisis about getting women involved in gaming? Because ultimately, the games industry cannot survive if it does not diversify, both in the people who make games and in the people who play games. Danc\'s article is an absolute must-read for anyone who truly loves games.

In a great analysis of Microsoft\'s latest announcements about Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360, Joystiq\'s Vladimir Cole details how Xbox Live Arcade is a growing threat to the traditional retail chain. And that\'s not necessarily a bad thing for game publishers: \"Sure, the games on offer right now are non-threatening casual games, but it's only a matter of time until gamers are downloading entire triple-A titles and not just demos of them. With more and more retailers moving towards the sale of used games, first- and third-party publishers are going to push the direct-to-consumer channel even harder.\" Check out the full story on Joystiq here.

I-Play, developer of mobile games in Europe and the US, has just completed a five country survey of mobile gaming habits. The study compares the views of American and European mobile gamers and finds several interesting differences: Americans are driven by a need to \"win\" the game, yet US mobile gamers prefer \"casual\" games while their Euro counterparts prefer \"action\" titles. Fodder for endless forum speculation and armchair analysis, right here.

Never a crew to let a single viewpoint dominate (we\'re still cleaning up the offices from the Great Console Wars of 01/02), our man Chris Martin has stepped up to the metaphorical typewriter. Those of you who find the Nintendo Revolution a bit too syrupy-sweet and dreamily perfect most likely share some of Chris\' concerns.

With the announcement of the Revolution controller, Nintendo has proven that, at least some of the time, they really \"get\" it. Get what? Gaming. In a next-gen lineup that has been, frankly, a total snooze-fest, the Revolution has finally shown us a sliver of light, which we think will broaden into a bright new direction for game design to explore. While Sony and Microsoft are content to release platform upgrades, it looks like Nintendo is the only one attempting to move gaming to a new generation.

There is a raging debate going on right now about the next generation of gaming consoles. For many, it can be summed up like this: Do prettier graphics justify an entirely new generation? Are the graphics in the next generation enough of an improvement to justify an entirely new generation? With game development cycles getting longer and hardware cycles getting shorter, it\'s entirely appropriate to address the issue of whether or not the next generation of home consoles is really worth it.

Our man Aaron addresses the issue of whether or not to buy an Xbox 360 with a hard drive or without. After some recent comments from Epic about the Unreal Engine, it looks like the debate is still very much on. If you are not a current Xbox owner, or if you don\'t care much about Xbox Live and playing old Xbox games, then you definitely need to check out Aaron\'s analysis here.

Dawn of War brings Warhammer 40K out of the garage and into the den, and this is one of the few times that the translation of tabletop models to screen-based pixels manages to hold up. Of course, don\'t take my word for it: Our man, and venerable Warhammer 40K tabletop player, Rick, gives Dawn of War the future apocalypic military analysis. Click for the intel.

A lot of this year\'s E3 buzz was about SOny\'s PSP handheld gaming device. That\'s a lot of talk about somehting no one has seen before, as Gary Wong tells us. GF\'s newest writer delivers a fantasic analysis of the handheld market, a look at its historical context, and it\'s chance at knocking off Nintendo\'s handheld behemoth

A lot of this year's E3 buzz was about Sony's PSP handheld gaming device. That's a lot of talk about somehting no one has seen before, as Gary Wong tells us. GF's newest writer delivers a fantasic analysis of the handheld market, a look at its historical context, and it's chance at knocking off Nintendo's handheld behemoth. Click here for a look at the future of handheld gaming.

With all of the different console manufacturers launching their online components this year, it can be tough to sort it all out. So I put together Back to the Front: The Console Wars Go Online to outline the facts and offer up some analysis. See what you think.

As we move into the next arena of competing systems, 2001's HAL9000 may be a ways down the road, but there is a wide world of electronic-gaming glory in sight. While most have hopefully known the awesome perfection that is Dreamcast, it does behoove both the serious and casual gamer to look at the upcoming choices and see what each new platform has to offer them.PS2 has already landed and GameCube and X-Box will within a year. PS2 and X-Box should both be in the $300.00 range and GameCube about $200.00. Like most other technical-equipment purchases, it all depends on what you want your new box to do. The PS2 has made a serious leap forward as a true 'Set-Top Box' offering movie-playback and the promise of serous internet capabilities. X-Box will offer these also and Nintendo's new entry will at least offer online browsing. With DVD players dropping in price everyday and nearly half the houses in the country connected to the internet, these are niceties in a console, but maybe not the prime focus.